Deployed Loadmaster Meets His First Born Via the Internet

Delaware

"l wish I could be there to hold her," Tech. Sgt. Ryne Regan said to his wife after witnessing the birth of the couple's first child through his laptop April 9.

Heard in the delivery room at the Women's and Babies Hospital in Lancaster, Pa., these eight words from the Delaware Air National Guardsman deployed thousands of miles away in Afghanistan brought the staff to tears.

"Just before Sarah arrived, I actually lost the Internet signal and had to scramble to get the camera back up," he said.

After 30 hours of encouraging his wife the loadmaster assigned to 774th Expeditionary Airlift Squadron was finally rewarded with the first cries of Sarah Grace Regan, a blue-eyed, 8-pound, 3-ounce baby girl.

Regan received word he was selected for his eighth deployment about a year ago, not long before he learned his wife, Toshia, was pregnant with their first child.

Despite the unfortunate intersection of events, the couple went on with life as usual. Ryne continued his civilian job and Toshia went to doctor's appointments.

But a few weeks ago, when Ryne started packing, life turned from excitement to anxiety.

"Initially we were concerned about her having a great support system around her while I was gone," he said. "We had daily conversations about it, but when it was time to board the plane, die diought changed to, heaven forbid on the day she came, I would be on a mission, not in front of a computer and miss it."

The expectant father's worries were answered by his extended Air Force family.

"My squadron offered to do everything they could to get me in front of a computer when it came time, and they did," he explained. "They took me off the flying schedule, helped me get an Internet connection and the time to be there for my wife."

[Author Affiliation]

- By Master Sgt. Michael Voss